About Kids and Reading

 

Can you set aside ten minutes a day, and read a good book to your child?

You may be surprised at the fun you will have together.

Snuggle up together, enjoy each others company, and read, read, read.

Heather

Children need to have many stories read to them when they are young before they are able to learn to read themselves. Mem Fox, author of many children’s books, and an Associate Professor in Literacy Studies at Flinders University in Adelaide, said that:

“...young children need to hear at least 1000 stories before they can begin to learn to read themselves. The more expressively we read, the more fantastic the experience will be. The more our kids love books, the more they’ll pretend to read them, and the more they pretend to read, the more quickly they’ll learn to read. So reading aloud is not quite enough—we need to read aloud well.”

This could be the same story being told many times or many different stories. My eldest son had a favourite story that he asked for every night. We would read it and then one or two other books as well. By the time he was about two and a half, he was able to “read” that particular story to me. He anticipated what came next. When he got to school, he started bringing books home within the first week. By about week three, he was starting to read himself.

The more books children have read to them, the greater exposure they have to correct grammar. Their vocabulary is extended as they hear new words. This in turn helps them with their speech and with using words in the correct context. It also ensures that they see the written word and start associating it with the spoken word. Many children watch TV, play computer games or other electronic games and don’t have good quality reading time with adults. Evidence shows that the lack of reading with children when they are young, has a direct link to many children in schools not being able to read.

“It has been intuitively known for many years that reading aloud to young children promotes a love of reading and prepares them for school. Now, there is evidence to support those beliefs. The results of a study were published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. Young children whose parents read aloud to them went on to have better language development, literacy skills, and a love of reading by the time they entered school compared to those children who were not read to."
Allan N. Schwartz, LCSW, PhD